Troy Tulowitzki got the money, but Ubaldo Jimenez got the next-best thing: a promise from Dan O’Dowd that the Rockies would take care of him.

On the same day the team announced Tulowitzki’s lifetime contract, the Rockies’ general manager said he has also contacted Jimenez and Carlos Gonzalez to let them know he hoped they would be Tulo’s teammates for the long run.

“I reached out to them,” O’Dowd said.

O’Dowd recently talked about a long-term contract for CarGo with Scott Boras, Gonzalez’s agent, but the talks didn’t get far. Boras’ philosophy is to get clients into free agency as soon as possible. CarGo is contractually bound to the Rockies for at least four years before he can test free agency.

Jimenez, meanwhile, signed a four-year, $10 million contract before the 2009 season, a deal that could grow to six years and $22.75 million if the Rockies pick up club options in 2013 and 2014. The contract, which will pay Jimenez $2.8 million in 2011, is outdated after his breakout 2010 season, and O’Dowd said he’s willing to make whatever changes are necessary to ensure that Jimenez is happy and pitching in Denver for years to come.

“We’re open to anything,” he said.

Deal pending.

Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa has agreed to a two-year, $21.5 million contract, but O’Dowd couldn’t comment because the deal hasn’t been signed. De La Rosa is in his native Mexico and has yet to take a physical.

De La Rosa’s contract is potentially worth $42.5 million over four years. He’ll receive a $1 million signing bonus and salaries of $9.5 million and $10 million in 2011 and 2012. He has a 2013 player option at $11 million, with a $1 million buyout. If he exercises the option, it would trigger a Rockies club option for 2014, also at $11 million.

De La Rosa’s agent, Bobby Barad, talked at length with several clubs, and at least two, Washington and Pittsburgh, are believed to have offered more money than the Rockies. But De La Rosa, like Tulowitzki, chose to stay.

Said O’Dowd, “It’s another example of players who just want to be here.”

Mound matters.

De La Rosa figures to be the Rockies’ No. 2 starter, behind Jimenez. O’Dowd hopes Aaron Cook can bounce back and grab the No. 3 spot, which would enable to Rockies to keep the pressure off Jhoulys Chacin, who turns 23 in January.

“I feel really optimistic about (Cook),” O’Dowd said. “Hopefully we don’t have to have Jhoulys pitching until the fourth or fifth day of the season.”

The fifth spot belongs to Jason Hammel, but he’ll have competition from a group that includes Esmil Rogers, recently acquired Felipe Paulino and possibly Jeff Francis, who might sign elsewhere after the Rockies didn’t pick up his option. At least three clubs — Milwaukee, Houston and Pittsburgh — have expressed interest.

“The Paulino kid, I don’t want to undersell him,” O’Dowd said. “If some of these guys don’t step up, he’s going to take their job.”

Hitter needed.

Having secured Tulowitzki long term, O’Dowd will switch gears and search for a bat, with Troy Glaus the latest name on a list of candidates that includes Jose Lopez, Jorge Cantu and Edwin Encarnacion or Kevin Kouzmanoff, one of whom is expected to be nontendered by Oakland.

O’Dowd has no plans to offer significant guaranteed money to any more starting pitchers. Francis, a Rockies lifer, is in a unique category, however.

“We look at Jeff totally differently,” he said. “We’ll continue to monitor that. He’s a Rockie, but we understand what Jeff and his agent are trying to do for his future.”

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